Before
by sorry.ari
Summary: This story starts when Evan is 8 years old and his Dad is moving out. It continues through his life. Please leave suggestions!
1. The U-Haul Truck In The Driveway

I hear shouts above me, everything is so loud. I hear mom scream as a door slams. Mom runs into my room and lays with me on my bed. She doesn't even have to ask me if I heard Mom and Dad's fight again, she knows I did. She can tell by my huge eyes and my shaking arms. She spoons me back to sleep but even then I hear her silent footsteps tiptoe out of my room. The next day when I wake up to eat my Frosted Flakes I see a huge U-haul truck in the driveway. The biggest truck I have ever seen. I open the front door and the sunshine hits my face as I tumble outside, tripping over moving boxes here and there. When I come face to face with Dad I smile knowing he is about to pick me up and swing me around in the air.  


"No Evan-agh-I mean Mark… not today buddy" I look up at my dad again and see disappointment all over his face. I shed a single tear and run back into the house finding refuge in my frosted flakes. Mom stomps down the stairs and I hear her gasp when she looks out the window to see the huge truck. She looks over at my tiny self in the biggest chair we own and starts to cry and runs back upstairs. I look around my surroundings in

confusion. Does it make her sad to see me watching TV while eating breakfast? She has been crying so much more this week than ever before. During my 8th birthday party, last Saturday she broke down to one of the moms there and Dad had to take over and run the entire party. Not that I enjoyed the party. There were too many kids running around and screaming. Dad walked back into the house and gave me a hug before grabbing the final suitcase sitting by the door. I ran after him and asked to sit in the truck with him. I wanted to see if it was like climbing a tree. You get so high in the sky when you climb a tree, its the most amazing feeling you will ever experience. Dad looks down at me and walks over to the truck without saying a word. I stand in silence as the truck drives away without me in it. Mom comes out of the house to see me sobbing into my green elephant stuffed animal. She scoops me up and carries me to the couch where we watch TV all day and cry into each other. I never got to sit in that truck. Mom would later tell me I did but instead Dad just drove away from me, he drove away from our lives.


	2. Chapter 2: Starting Life Over

The bright yellow envelope arrives on our doorstep a month later letting us know we have twenty days to move out of our suburban house. Mom is more stressed than ever as she is buzzing around the house packing up our stuff even though we still don't have anywhere to move to. She sighs in relief when she gets an email from Jareds Mom who is inviting me over to play. I don't want to go over to his house, I don't want to go to anyone's house. Everyone I go to school with is loud and mean. Mom makes me go to his house though,

"Its good for you to crack open your shell a little Evan, I know your shy but its part of life ya know? Going and meeting new people?" I look at the floor as Mom responds to Jareds Mom letting her know that would be amazing. Jared knocks on my door half an hour later and assures my mom its safe for two eight-year-olds to walk a block or two to get back to his house alone. My mom nods in partial agreement but lets us go. The entire twenty-minute walk back to his house seemed like it went on for hours as he ranted about his new nerf gun he got. When we go inside his house his mom looks down at me and sees an eight-year-old boy, skinny from not eating enough and sad from having nobody to care for him. She gives me the first hug I have gotten since the day Dad left. Jared talks most of the time during our playdate. He wants to play nerf guns but after his mom sees the scared look I have on my face she decides to tell him that maybe that's not the best idea. At 4:00 his Mom drives me back over to our house. I am disappointed I couldn't stay later. If I had stayed later I would have been able to eat a full meal for dinner and not just cereal. Maybe I will ask mom again if we can get pizza. I expect Jared's mom to just drop me off on the curb but instead she parks and comes in with me to talk to my mom. Mom learns that Jared's Mom (Sarah) is a real estate agent and knows the perfect place for us to live. Mom's face lights up as she talks about the two-bedroom apartment that would be cheap enough for us to afford. She lets us know that at this new apartment we can have our own lives and that this house will be behind us. I walk to my room to see that I don't have a bed anymore. I see that all of my clothes are gone and the only thing in my empty room is a sleeping bag on the floor I run out of my room in tears to see Mom offering Sarah tea that doesn't exist. I can tell that shes hoping Sarah doesn't like tea so she doesn't have to embarrass herself in front of the lady who is going to help her start a new life. I run outside and climb the tree in our front lawn as high as my little legs will let me. I look out at the only life I have ever known and wonder how many lives I will go through before I am no longer on this planet.


End file.
